Forward March Hare

Forward March Hare
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Airdate:	14 February 1953 Blue Ribbon reissue: 24 May 1969
Series:	Looney Tunes
MPAA Number:	15459
Production Number:	1243
Copyright Renewed:	15 January 1980
Starring:	Bugs Bunny
Crew
Voice Characterizations:	Mel Blanc John T. Smith
Director:	Charles M. Jones
Written By:	Michael Maltese
Producer:	Eddie Selzer
Animated By:	Ben Washam Lloyd Vaughan Ken Harris
Layout Artist:	Maurice Noble
Background Artist:	Philip DeGuard
Film Editor:	Treg Brown
Musician:	Carl Stalling

Forward March Hare is a 1953 Looney Tunes short directed by Chuck Jones

Title

The title combines the phrases "Forward march," and "March hare."

Plot

The mailman has delivered a letter to "B. Bonny", but when the truck pulls out, the exhaust from the tailpipe blows the letter out of Bertram Bonny's mailbox. It drifts down into Bugs Bunny's hole. Bugs, in the middle of his morning workout, including a brief workout of his ears, eventually sees the letter and assumes it's for him. On reading the letter, he is shocked and says, "Holy cats, I've been drafted!"

Bugs' going through the Army induction center only causes some small reactions, with the exception being the man checking each person's X-Ray, who immediately diagnoses himself as "overworked" when seeing Bugs' X-ray. He passes the eye exam with flying colors from the first letter right down to the microscopic "Reg. U.S. Pat. Off." disclaimer at the bottom of the chart. Once in the army, though, he quickly causes problems. His uniform and shoes are too big, so when his Sergeant calls for the men lined up to about face, Bugs accidentally knocks the rest of the line over like bowling pins.

The Sergeant calls Bugs forward, where Bugs introduces himself as "Private Bugs Bunny, reporting as ordered, your majesty!" The Sergeant doesn't believe it's really Bugs, and dryly refers to himself as "Sergeant Porky Pig." However, his Colonel, referring to himself as "Colonel Putty Tat", tells the Sergeant that "General Tweety Pie was asking about you, Sergeant." On inspecting Bugs, Bugs quickly knocks the Colonel over with his large shoes.

Bugs and his commanding officer - now noticeably demoted to Sergeant from Sergeant First Class - take a long hike that sees both of them crawling back to their bunk at "Camp Ono" in the middle of the night. Bugs finally lies down in his bunk, but is woken by Reveille. Bugs, intending to "moider that bugler," runs with a baseball bat and smashes the record player to bits. He takes a bath, using the Colonel's helmet as his bathtub. When the Sergeant notices this, he throws Bugs out and runs off with the helmet full of soapy water, only to run into the Colonel.

Now demoted to Corporal rank, Bugs' officer has Bugs 'dress' the chickens for dinner, though Bugs has them all dressed in tuxedos. "Where are they eatin'?" Bugs tries nailing a calendar to the wall above his bunk using a large ammunition shell, causing the neighboring soldiers to flee in panic. The Corporal runs up just in time to almost get hit with the shell when it goes off, but the shell drives a hole clean through the Colonel's helmet while the Colonel is wearing it.

Now reduced in rank to Private, Bugs' former commanding officer asks the bunny what he's got against him. He finally realizes that "We've inducted a rabbit!" and runs off to find the Colonel. When told by the Colonel, whom Bugs calls "General, sir," that he can't be part of the armed forces, Bugs asks what a patriotic rabbit can do. The Colonel tells Bugs there is something he can do. Bugs tests ammunition shells similar to the one he accidentally fired by striking the top with a mallet and marking them as 'DUD' when they don't explode. Bugs says, "And just think! In thirty years, I can retire!"

Characters

• Bugs Bunny
• Bertram Bonny (name only)
• The Sergeant
• The Colonel
• Unnamed army worker
• Unnamed guys
• Unnamed guy that laughed when seeing Bugs Bunny
• Unnamed army doctor
• Unnamed army scan worker
• Porky Pie (mentioned)
• Sylvester (mentioned)
• Tweety (mentioned)

Availability

(1982) VHS
The Looney Tunes Video Show, Volume 5

(1995) VHS
Classic Collection (WHSmith Exclusive Video)

(1996) VHS
Stars of Space Jam: Bugs Bunny

(1996) VHS
Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 6)

(1997) LaserDisc
Japanese Looney Tunes LaserDiscs Bugs Bunny

(2006) DVD
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4, Disc One

(2006) DVD
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 4 Disc 1

(2007) DVD
Looney Tunes Collection Best of Bugs Bunny Volume 4

(2014) DVD
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 4-5 Repack

(2018) DVD
Stars of Space Jam: Bugs Bunny

(2018) DVD
Stars of Space Jam Collection Volume 1

(2020) DVD
Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny Golden Carrot Collection, Disc 4

Streaming

Boomerang App ( - )

HBO Max (2020 - 2022)

Max (2024 - )

iTunes ( - ) (restored)

Notes

• Although Porky Pig, Sylvester and Tweety do not appear in this cartoon, their names are mentioned when the army officers refer each other by these names to Bugs (although Sylvester is mentioned as "Putty Tat" and Tweety is mentioned as "Tweetie Pie", with the former being Sylvester's nickname by Tweety in Friz Freleng's Tweety and Sylvester cartoons and the latter being a reference to the 1947 cartoon of the same name.).
• Bugs is characterized rather differently in this cartoon only compared to the other cartoons: here Bugs is portrayed more as a fish out of water whose incompetence comes from being well-meaning.
• Bugs' x-ray shows bones outlining his ears, though ears are made of cartilage, not bones, which does not show on x-rays.
• Running Gag/Fourth Wall: Everyone looks at the camera when reacting to Bugs Bunny.

Gallery

Lobby card

External Links

• "Forward March Hare" at SuperCartoons.net